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House Democrats moved the date of their leadership elections up by a week, a move that likely helps House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s possible return to the speaker’s chair. | Win McNamee/Getty Images

Pelosi gains ground in bid to become speaker

A rules change that would have made it much more difficult for her to clinch the top post was withdrawn after garnering only 11 backers.

An effort by some House Democrats to slow down House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s possible return to the speaker’s chair fizzled out Wednesday, leaving the California Democrat free to pursue a historic comeback if her party wins a majority on Election Day.

House Democrats also moved the date of their leadership elections up by a week, another move that likely helps Pelosi’s cause. The rescheduling will help align those proceedings with orientation for new members.

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Reps. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) and Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) had been pushing a proposal to require at least 218 Democrats to support the party’s speaker nominee inside the caucus, provided Democrats have a majority. That threshold would be impossibly high for Pelosi or anyone else to meet, and would essentially allow a minority of Democrats, in a secret vote, to effectively hold veto power over their party’s choice for speaker.

The Democratic candidate for speaker would still have to get 218 votes in an open roll call on the House floor, but that is considered a much more difficult vote to go against the party.

Perlmutter and Rice had only been able to round up 11 anti-Pelosi Democrats to sign onto their motion. When challenged by a confident Pelosi to call for an immediate vote on their plan, the pair withdrew the motion. A source familiar with their plans said Perlmutter and Rice will call it up after the election.

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The key for Pelosi at that time will be how many members Democrats can elect in the midterms, and who they are.

If she falls short of a majority, Pelosi will be gone. If she has only a small majority — say, five seats — Pelosi will have a harder time clinching the speakership. But if Democrats have a sizable majority, Pelosi will have a clear path to a comeback not seen since Sam Rayburn in the 1950s.

Perlmutter acknowledged during the members-only meeting that some fellow Democrats told him, in his words, that he's "a jerk and troublemaker.”

At one point during the heated discussion, Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) stood up to defend the backers of the motion to change the rules and urged the caucus to come together, according to a source in the room. Fudge said lawmakers needed to stop demonizing and attacking each other, arguing that not everything is about Pelosi. She said the rules change would address a legitimate issue that isn’t likely to go away, the source said

But Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) complained the Permutter-Rice proposal “would turn us into the Republicans,” a reference to the House Freedom Caucus. The ability of small factions of Republicans to block someone from becoming or remaining speaker under their rules allowed GOP hardliners in the Freedom Caucus to drive former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) from his post. It also prevented House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from moving up, and have been a huge problem for Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

Pelosi backed up Frankel, saying she knew the motion was designed to block her from becoming speaker again.